Veterinarian raising money to buy dog prosthetic leg

AVON LAKE -- A local animal shelter and veterinarian are teaming up to raise money to cover the expenses necessary to save the life of Nanna.

The dog had her leg amputated on Friday because of a tumor. Veterinarian Frank Krupka of the Avon Lake Animal Clinic has been working to help Nanna stay active.

While it is quite common for dogs to lose a leg and still live a rather normal and healthy life, Nanna's situation is a bit unique -- she's already missing one of her hind legs.

Once she heals up from the amputation, Nanna will be fitted for a prosthetic leg.

"Nanna has a growth on her front, right carpus that was removed a year ago, but incompletely because it can't be removed completely," Krupka said. "As a result, it's grown back with a vengeance and is now intertwined in all the tendons, and we can't get the mass out of there. The only way we can remove the mass is to remove the foot.

"The problem is, removing the foot takes away her ability to walk, because she needs that foot to bear weight. We're actually going to fit her for a prosthetic so she'll be a three legged dog again."

Nanna came to the Avon Lake Animal Clinic from St. Francis Animal Sanctuary in Vermilion. Krupka said he's worked with St. Francis a number of times but has never had a case quite like this one.

"We do quite a bit of work with St. Francis. Deborah Parker (of St. Francis) brings in some really challenging cases and we do a lot of good work for the animals," he said. "The nice thing about working with St. Francis is this is the last chance for these animals. When you have all these successes, you know you've made a huge difference for them."

Krupka said there really is no way of knowing just how old Nanna is because she is a rescue dog without any records, nor does he know exactly how or when she lost her back leg. What he does know is she needs the surgery in order to survive.

"This is the kid's last chance," Krupka said. "I think she'll be fine afterward though. She should have a good quality of life after it's all over, and that's what it's about in cases like this: quality of life."

Krupka said Nanna will take about two weeks to heal after the amputation before being fitted for a temporary prosthetic. During that time she's going to need a lot of help from Parker.

"There's going to be a lot of work on Debbie's part with taking her outside so she can go to the bathroom and be able to maintain her," he said. "Nanna's going to be a high-maintenance kid for a couple weeks."

The surgery and the prosthetic leg aren't going to be cheap though, and St. Francis is looking for assistance from the community to cover the expenses. Krupka estimates it could total several thousands of dollars once it is all said and done.

Still, he's more concerned about Nanna's well-being and said he'll worry about the money later.

"We're getting the ball started. It started rolling because we have to," Krupka said. "We know this is going to take a good amount of therapy, so we ramped it up to the next level, which is taking off the foot.

"She needs to get the work done, and she's going to get it done. We'll worry about the rest after the fact."

Krupka said the amputation and the recovery from it won't be too rough on Nanna. The difficult part will be learning to accept and get around on the prosthetic. Once she does that, he expects her to live a healthy life without anymore complications from the growth.

Anyone interested in making a donation to help with Nanna's expenses is encouraged to contact St. Francis Animal Sanctuary by calling 440-967-3610 or stop by the Avon Lake Animal Clinic, located at 124 Miller Road.